Forza Horizon 5 Review: Open World Full of Races – Is That Too Much?

In five editions spread over a decade, Forza Horizon’s outstanding quality isn’t about high-fidelity visuals, a large fleet of stylish cars, or immersive handling and acceleration. It’s the eerie feeling of place that I get from the surroundings. It’s a fictional representation of a real place, and in some cases, I’ve never set foot in the country for inspiration. But no other racing driver has ever given me the feeling that my memory of a sunset on a motorway, a wooded serpentine or the precisely planted rows of a tree farm that slide by like a thousand dictionary pages was anything but a lived memory.

Mexico, the backdrop for Forza Horizon 5, is both a quasi return to the origins of the series and the best execution of an open racing world to date. power horizon played in Colorado, and much of that state was eventually created from what was formerly Mexico. The dry canyons, mountain roads above the tree line, and rolling farmland all feel like a reunion with what made Playground Games so brilliant nine years ago – with an Xbox 360. Forza Horizon 5 is both the best game of the series and a reminder of how good everything was before. The key is knowing how to navigate the game’s extensive offerings without drowning or being distracted by their weight.

Forza Horizon 5 instantly stuns with its jungles, swamps and beaches. All of this terrain differentiates events sensibly, sometimes within a racing series that is driven three times with the same vehicle. Road racing could mean a lot of technical turns that require something practical, like a rally car; Or it could be on the autobahn, where the pure speed of a Koenigsegg, Pagani or Bugatti hypercar comes into play.

But no matter how I drive, the handling in Forza Horizon 5 supported me. The control panel and the freedom to delegate it is better here than any other arcade or action racing game with just a modest set of options and customizations. In terms of pick-up-and-play usability, it’s also better than any other motorsport simulation I play. (And the 60fps visual information is fluid and responsive enough to give a sense of momentum without movement.) This was evident from the preview where I found the race was arriving better

When breaking in, a lighter approach is important Forza Horizon 5. Only with the “Arcade” steering did I feel like I was fighting a vehicle that was constantly trying to re-center itself, as is typical in Need for Speed ​​and similar series. Even with the stability assistant activated, standard and sim steering still had enough play to initiate and continue drifts.

Grid view

Driving cleanly and successfully completing any event, even if it’s a rapid jump through the debris-strewn alluvial fan of La Gran Caldera, is easy enough. (There’s always the rewind feature, but only perfectionists should need it.) Win against Forza Horizon 5However, the hard AI of AI is the real work. And unfortunately, the critical pieces I was looking for were often drowned in what can rightly be called information overload.

Just start with the game card, which after barely an hour of play already looks like the bulletin board of an overworked police detective – so many pointers, where should I start? How about Las Alfueras, a point-to-point street race. That’s fine, but a “road race” could mislead how much of the track is on a two-lane country road. The recommended vehicle type and event performance rating would give me a clue as to what to prepare for, but I didn’t learn these details until I drove to the event and stepped inside. Knowing things like this would save me a bit of time choosing the right car and making sure it was tuned and updated before the race. When I attack such a large card, the amount of information thrown at me and how little of it helps me make decisions is disappointing.

Nothing restricts the vehicle that I can use in every race, but the better the car, the fiercer the AI ​​competition will be. Then if I don’t know the last setup or set of tires I put on on that ride, it’s another trip through the menus to find out. Serious racers may not mind this type of work, but it inevitably runs counter to the pick-up-and-play spirit that pervades Forza Horizon 5‘s core gameplay loop.

Image: Playground Games / Xbox Game Studios

But even then, the only way to really plan a race, especially against burly AIs, is to run it a few times, understand the terrain and width of the track, and determine whether acceleration and cornering are priority or pure speed too defending is against the pack on a long straight.

I don’t mind shakedown runs, but I’m also very invested in racing games and willing to put hours into the task of getting a flawless run. You should see how obsessed I am with practice, qualifying and setup in other motorsport games. The fact that I casually stumbled into races with strong strategy requirements doesn’t seem compatible Forza Horizon 5

And the map is rich in detail, which is exciting, but can ruin my ability to concentrate. It’s a bit like arguing about the presentation of a buffet full of delicious food. There is a lot of value on it though Forza Horizon 5‘s Map, I feel constantly pinged at by mentions and suggestions from all directions, like two teenagers blowing up my DMs. There is the “New!” To mark an event in a different row than the one I am looking for. On the way to the next stage of a story-based expedition, a voice on the in-game radio interrupts with a “skill song” in which my open-world honing is now worth twice as much XP. Press X to go to the map now!

Image: Playground Games / Xbox Game Studios

Finally, woe to me, should I cross the territory of an active Horizon Arcade event, I will be automatically included, with its destinations and route overwriting anything I did. If there’s a way to opt out of arcade events until I actually want to attend, I can’t really find it. The mini-games aren’t bad, but I’d really like to get closer Forza Horizon 5‘s offers more targeted. Unfortunately, the game rarely lets me do that.

That way, the game’s stories and expeditions – the greatest narrative experiences that take up Mexico’s unique surroundings and themes – can get lost in the mix. These tours provide players with new hiding spots and hubs, or offer vehicles, customization bling, and other cool things to unlock. But it really took me willpower to go through all five stages of an early expedition in a row. It was a maze of distractions: a couple of level ups led to a couple of wheelspins that got me into one great Car (the 2019 Aston Martin DBS Superleggera) that won’t paint or tune itself. I appreciate that Playground Games gives me a lot of space to add things to my schedule. But going wrong on the unstructured game side and then cluttering it intermittently can make the whole game feel scattered and disconnected.

Forza Horizon 5Even the two largest suites for user-generated content – the paint job and livery editor and the new Events Lab – offer little orientation. For vehicle cosmetics, this isn’t that big of a problem, especially if you’re experienced with Forzas’ customization tools. I still had to feel my way through a few menus to achieve the desired effect or to understand what all my options meant, for example when painting the rims of my Maserati GTS.

Image: Playground Games / Xbox Game Studios

The Events Lab doesn’t have a tutorial, although it’s easy enough to create and share in it. That said, the only surface-level options I could see were placing control points, and I had no guidance on where control points should go (before a turn? After? May have been a mistake). The Events Lab really puts “yourself” into do-it-yourself and the polish, coherence and challenge of a standard Forza Horizon 5 Racing is difficult to pull off with so little guidance.

It would mean that there is much of Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle at work in my review: the need to try out as much of this game as possible while writing on time. On my own, I will probably be more careful to drive in the main branches of the event tree and avoid marginal distractions or unstructured fidgeting in the adaptation suites. The game has characters, tells stories, presents everything as part of an overall career – but its goals have no real imperative. So don’t be afraid of missing out Forza Horizon 5, especially since it’s on the first day of Xbox Game Pass.

But even now I can feel my shoulders and chest tighten as I think about it all Forza horizon 5, and the difference between everything I have – with a V sound – and everything I have have – F sound – to do. It’s the difference between opportunities and obligations. The only area in which Forza Horizon 5 stumbled when it gives me so much of the former that they become the latter.

Forza Horizon 5 should be released on November 9th window PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X, with Early Access from November 5th. The game has been verified using a pre-release download code provided by Microsoft. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not affect the editorial content, although Vox Media can earn commissions on products purchased through affiliate links. you find more information on Polygon’s ethics policy here.